Tuesday, May 11, 2010

/PRNewswire/ -- Former U.S. and Georgia First Lady Rosalynn Carter is the special guest for today's opening of Grady Health System's new comprehensive outpatient mental health facility, the Auburn Avenue Recovery Center. Known worldwide for her work to improve the quality of life for those suffering from mental illness, Mrs. Carter joins health system officials in celebrating the expansion of mental health services available for adults, adolescents and children in Atlanta and the state.

Grady's Auburn Avenue Recovery Center will centralize outpatient mental health services into one convenient location. The new center expands upon the first-class mental health services already offered by Grady to provide more outpatient services in one location and help encourage clients to use the services offered. Located in the Odd Fellows Building 250 Auburn Avenue, the center features 19 individual and group treatment rooms and space for more than 50 clinical staff.

"Grady's mental health program is among the most comprehensive programs in the country," said Michael Claeys, Executive Director of Behavioral Health for Grady Health System. "We are excited to expand the services we offer for adults, adolescents and children living in Atlanta and Georgia. And we are honored that Rosalynn Carter joined us today as we cut the ribbon for our new home."

As the only 24-hour psychiatric emergency service in Georgia, Grady receives more than 15,000 patient visits a year and its psychiatric emergency service is one of the five busiest in the nation.

Grady's mental health services include:
-- Community outreach: Grady provides psychiatric services to homeless
shelters, supportive living facilities, geriatric living facilities
and other community-based programs serving patients who are unable or
unwilling to come to Grady on a regular basis to receive mental health
care.
-- Child/adolescent care: Grady provides the largest community mental
health program for disadvantaged children in Georgia and specializes
treating serious mental illness, psychological trauma, autism and
youth suicide in children ages 2 to 17. It also serves as a training
hub for more than two-thirds of the child psychiatrists in Georgia
-- Day program services: Grady provides day program services (FOCUS) for
uninsured adults with severe and persistent mental illness. This
program has earned recognition by the American Psychiatric Association
as a national award winning teaching facility.
-- Forensic Psychology: Grady provides the only forensic psychiatry
training program in Georgia and one of the first programs accredited
in the United States. Grady also provides pretrial evaluations for
Fulton County courts as well as treatment and support services in the
Atlanta City Detention Center to help reduce psychiatric emergency
visits.